


How To Love A Living Thing

by Flight_Of_Icarus



Series: First Comes A Baby, Then A Fake Marriage, Then Comes A Boatload Of Issues [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Bickering, Civil War Team Iron Man, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Other, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Starks Awesome Parenting, Tony has no time for this shit, this is soft, why is that a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 17:02:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17248037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flight_Of_Icarus/pseuds/Flight_Of_Icarus
Summary: Ross obsession with the serum is well known.Tony now has a daughter. With the goddamn Winter Soldier.





	How To Love A Living Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [journeythroughtherain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/journeythroughtherain/gifts).



> Listen, this fucking fic was supposed to be 500 words MAX. M A X. I added backstory like a FOOL and now this is slightly over 3k.  
> Very determinedly ignoring the fact the Rogue Avengers are a thing because it was gonna be fluffy story and someone would probably end up dead if they came back too.  
> Also fills my "domesticity" square for my Tony Stark Bingo Card because I'm too determined to quit.

 It started when Tony took down Ross.

 Two weeks after Siberia, brace around his ribs, breathing hoarse and jagged and Extremis in his hand.

 Two weeks and two days later, Ross is called into a meeting with the President.

 Two days and four days later, FRIDAY is vengefully digging through every scrap of info Ross had his hands on and she locks everything down and calls Rhodey.

 The child’s name was _Maria._

~~

 She’s four years old, with one brown eye and one grey-blue and she doesn’t speak. FRIDAY digs a little deeper, to blood tests and DNA and genetic testing and HYDRA’s experimentation of a new generation of super soldiers. That's when they realize her name is Maria _Barnes_ -Stark. It takes him half a glass and the subsequent pouring of every drop of alcohol in the Compound down the drain for him to get used to it.

 Rhodey, as always, is steady by his side as they start the plans. Pepper is a blazing fury of protectiveness and vengeance as she calls an army of lawyers to get Maria protected. Happy is supportive presence that keeps Tony company.

 Maria still doesn’t speak.

~~

 Two months after Siberia, the United States of America welcomes Bucky Barnes, Winter Soldier back. _After_ social media blew up, and enough people drew attention to the fact he was the longest living POW and deserved help. Tony agrees to keep him at the Compound until his trial is over.

 Tony thinks Rhodey has something to do with the fact only Barnes comes back and not the others.

 Tony doesn’t ask, and Rhodey doesn’t talk.

~~

 Maria speaks Russian, and she watches everyone in the room with a blank stillness that’s almost unnatural.

 Bucky Barnes is cleared from all charges.

~~

 Barnes comes to apologize.

 Tony flips out and throws him out. He doesn’t need to forgive him to raise a kid with him.

~~

 It comes to a head on a Thursday afternoon.

 Tony is out with Maria, because she won’t ask for what she wants but will hesitate leaving from certain activities. Which is why Tony and her are outside in the garden that Vision painstakingly maintains, planting lavender beside a pond.

 They were hidden from the rest of the compound by a willow tree and working in silence so Barnes doesn’t see them until he stumbles right into the area and freezes, panicked. They all stare at each other in awkward silence until Tony clears his throat.

 “Sergeant Barnes...this is Maria.” he says, thankful his voice is steady. “Maria, this is your other dad.” It doesn’t escape him that Maria had subtly flipped over her trowel into a better position for attacking, or the strain in the air when Barnes hears the name _Maria_. Tony can taste the icy air and the scent of burning metal is a bitter memory to them. Siberia is a mark that has still not healed, for either of them it seems.

 “Hi,” Barnes says quietly, uncertain and fidgety. There’s another long pause as Maria stares, before cautiously holding out her trowel to him in a clear offer. Barnes looks in his direction with wide eyes but Tony just shrugs. Seventeen parenting books later and many phone calls to Mama Rhodes had not helped the fact that parenting was the one subject he couldn’t read scientific papers on and learn overnight. “Uh...thanks.”

 Maria points him imperiously to the freshly planted lavender to fill the hole and goes to fetch another from the wheelbarrow. Barnes moves obediently, but gives him a wide berth and they work in silence until the sun starts to set.

 It becomes an odd routine, but Tony says nothing. It’s not his choice if Maria wants to spend time with both of them.

~~  
 Visions garden grows as they work.

~~

 Vision takes Maria out for the day to go flower shopping for the new section of the Compound.

 Tony slips out and goes to visit his mother’s gravestone.

 Pepper brings ridiculously expensive blankets, Rhodey brings sparkly nail polish and Happy brings the cheeseburgers and they spend the afternoon in the workshop.

 Talking.

 Tony accepts the apology from Barnes, and tells him Maria likes having books read to her.

~~

 Then they find out that while Maria has the serum from Barnes, it just means that when she’s sick, its serious.

 Rhodey is in DC, pushing through the final amendments for the Accords. Happy is with Pepper who is overseas with an important deal that can help Tony get the right tech and people to deal with the very real threat of invasion hanging above their head. They call every chance they get, and May Parker even swings by to help Tony. Extremis has made him stronger physically and mentally, but it does nothing for panic attacks.

 Maria is eerily silent, eyes glazed as she burns up with fever.

 She rasps out quiet breaths, practically glued to Tony’s side when Barnes arrives, hovering and uncertain just like always.

 Tony merely directs him to grab more ice, and Barnes says nothing when Tony sings softly in Italian because it’s the only thing that helps Maria sleep anymore.

~~

 Maria recovers.

 She reaches out more, holding Tony’s hand when he takes her out for ice cream, and brushing against him when they make kites without flinching or skittering away like she used to do.

 She goes to Barnes too, settles on the same couch as him, or accepts random chocolate bars he seems to produce out of nowhere.

 He and Barnes talk. Not small talk, but they talk about plans with Maria. Barnes hesitantly offers up fragmented memories of his siblings and Maria listens raptly. Maria still likes curling up on the couch under a thick blanket patterned like stars as Tony plays the piano, but will also watch sci-fi movies with Barnes and sometimes she’ll smile very very lightly at some of Tony’s more snarky commentary.

 Tony goes to DC because he has to, and listens to reports of Barnes reading Maria parts of Harry Potter.

~~

 It’s Tamara from PR that brings it up.

 There’s a situation in Prague. Tony refuses any commentary to the press when they ask him what he thinks about the “Rogue Avengers” and Barnes seems to withdraw into himself.

 He learned at a young age that any press is good press, but it’s not, especially when new amendments regarding underage superheros stall as everyone starts talking about _other_ things again.

~~

 “Absolutely not.” he snaps, thankful that Barnes and Maria were trying out new recipes with Vision today and nowhere near this. “This is absurd.”

 “Well you’ll have to get used to it.” Tamara says tiredly. She’s been heading his PR when since he was 10, and spun his many scandals in a way that had Howard just angry, instead of seven-drinks angry. She looks exhausted and stressed, and he reluctantly considers it.

 Back in his lab, he looks at the designs for Peters suit, the email that Harley sent and the ever-present map that FRIDAY updates with new and emerging superheros.

 He calls Rhodey and gets him to watch Maria and goes to present the idea to Barnes.

~~

 “You...want us to get married.” Barnes says flatly, and Tony nods.

 “We need the positive press.” Tony says again, “Desperately. There’s...a bigger thing out there Barnes. I saw it, in New York. I can’t...I can’t prepare if I’m questioned at every turn. I can’t protect Maria from this if I don’t have _time_.”

 “Will they buy it? Thought people still don’t like….gay people.” Barnes says finally, looking sideways at the framed picture of Maria he keeps on his desk.

 “They don’t, but they’ve had decades to come to terms that I’m not straight.” Tony said, “It’s not completely out the left field, but it will allow some distraction that I can use. Everyone loves weddings, and gossiping about romances. Plus, it gives Maria far more legal protection as well as the threat of having your reputation, even if you aren’t the Winter Soldier anymore, protecting her as well. JARVIS keeps a lookout, but she needs every thing we can give her to make HYDRA hesitate about taking her again.”

 “I’m not going to let that happen.” Barnes said, voice cold and finally different than the careful neutrality he’s been determined to hold onto.

 “I won’t either.” Tony said. Their gazes lock, and there’s a moment of understanding. “But there are certain things we can do. This is one of them.”

 “Then I suppose you should call me James.” Ba-James says and Tony closes his eyes for a brief moment as relief sweeps through him.

 “Then you should call me Tony.”

~~

 James moves in.

 It’s so awkward, but they don’t have to sleep in the same bed, but they have to give appearance of a happy couple. Maria doesn’t go to daycare or anything, but Tony doesn’t want the only people to interact with her to be the Avengers so she goes out with others. Supervised, but that’s expected for a celebrity child.

 Vision takes her to the library, so she can join story circles and Maria always kept her library card tucked carefully into the tiny backpack she’s taken to carrying everywhere with her. Rhodey will usually play with her somehow, partly PT as he learns how to walk, partly because he likes it. Pepper takes her to an art museum and Rhodey teases that Tony’s daughter is gonna grow up to have better taste in art than him. Happy watches Downton Abbey with her, and Maria seems enraptured with the cliche storylines.

 Well one of her dads is an assassin, the other is an eccentric billionaire and she was a test tube baby, so the levels of drama could be something she related to.

 But at the end of the day, Maria comes home.

 James cooks. Its his thing with Maria, and then they’ll sit down together and eat while they make small talk about their day.  
It’s strange, but Tony loves it.

 And somehow...Tony begins to actually care if James’ therapy appointment went well, and James asks follow up questions for projects he’s working on.

 Tony very firmly Does Not Think About how nice James’ smile is, when Maria gives him something and he always thanks her with a smile.

 He fails at Not Thinking About it.

~~

 “Hand over the chocolate chips.” James said sternly. Maria crouches on the counter, eyeing him carefully as she clutches the packet of chocolate chips and then the batter bowl. She shakes her head no, shifting it in her grip. James reaches for her, moving fairly fast but she jumps over the counter, tucking herself into a somersault as she speeds away from the kitchen.

 Neither of them notice Tony yet, still locked into their epic battle on who gets to pour the chocolate chips in the batter.

 “Maria, I’m the chef, clearly I have to do it.” James said, murder-strutting around the edge of the counter. Maria backs away around it, keeping the same distance with a playful smile on her face. She points down to the apron that James had stitched for her reading ‘Chef’s Assistant.’

 “Well I’m the chef, and I’m telling my assistant I have to pour the chocolate chips in.” James said in a haughty voice. “You are not ready yet, young Padawan.”  

 Maria’s nose crinkles when she laughs and she lets out a small giggle at the reference, making a dart to the bowl. James is faster though, catching her and lifting her up around the middle.

 “Okay okay, how about we pour together?” James said after a brief tickle fight. If someone had told Tony he was gonna be watching the Winter Soldier and his daughter have a tickle fight over chocolate chips, he would have assumed he was hallucinating again and went to sleep.

 He watches them pour out the chips, and smiles to himself when they end up pouring the entire pack in. He could interrupt, but he was content to watch them bicker, Maria using the few ASL signs that everyone who spent time with her knew to argue her point.

 He also watches James dramatically protest when Maria slaps a batter filled hand on his cheek, or flicks water teasingly at Maria when they wash the utensils and thinks to himself that he is _so screwed._

~~  
  James proposes in the garden.

 It’s not like Tony didn’t know it was gonna happen, because they did agree to get fake married and the point of them moving in was following the traditional steps of dating.

 It blindsides him though, leaving him blinking dumbly at James as he shyly holds out the ring. Tony puts it on a necklace and waves the “I’m an engineer” excuse around if people ask and Does Not Think About It. (He fails.)

 He’s got his own ring, made from the parts of his first armour, and Shuri watches him for a long moment but instructs him on how to replace one of the rings of James’ finger with it.

 Maria blinks at them when they explain to her, but still doesn’t say anything.

~~

 “That is an abomination.” Tony said, glaring at James’ bowl of popcorn.

 “Sweet popcorn is perfectly valid, you just have shit taste buds.” James said, sniffing in disdain at Tony’s bowl. “Salty popcorn on the other hand, is overkill.”

 “Don’t say ‘shit’ in front of Maria,” Tony said, whacking him on the flesh arm. He refrained from a smile when Maria shifted to look at him with a deadpan expression. “I will not have you using excrement as a swear word, I’ll teach you better swear words.”

 “Tony!” James said in exasperation.

 “What, if she’s gonna swear, she should know how to do it with class at least.” Tony said, before extending his bowl to Maria. “You like salty popcorn the best don’t you?”

 “She’s not a heathen, she clearly likes sweet popcorn the best.” James shot back.

 Maria stared at both of them, and then ate both sweet and salty popcorn at once.

 She took advantage of their blatant horror and stole both bowls and scuttled away to sit on the armchair.

 “Were we just scammed out of two bowls of popcorn?” Tony said after a long moment as Maria waved at JARVIS to start the movie.

 “I think so.” James said, amusement clear in his voice. He nudged Tony toward the room with a shoulder, and Tony smiled at him in thanks when James handed him a fresh bowl of salty popcorn a few minutes later.

 It felt odd not to have Maria sandwiched between the two of them when they watched the movie, and if you asked them later, neither of them knew what the actual movie was about.

 (It wasn’t because they were distracted watching the other, what nonsense are you spreading JARVIS?)

~~

 Sometimes James will come into his workshop. It starts off with questions about Maria and then he just...stays. Like a wild animal, expecting him to throw him out at any moment. He plays with the bots, or makes sure Maria doesn’t touch anything dangerous when she’s down there.

 Tony doesn’t know why he lets James stay.

~~

 They get married.

 It’s an official who made a house visit, Rhodey and Alice, the director of the Compound, are there at witnesses. The tabloids blow up, the flip phone locked in the drawer starts ringing and Tony, James and Maria go for a strategic vacation.

~~

 Tony doesn’t swim.

 He’s more than content to lounge on a blanket with his juice (not alcohol, never alcohol) and call out encouragement as James and Maria swim around the river around the cabin. He Does Not Look at James and keeps his eyes on Maria the entire time.

 (He looks.)

 Maria traces the jagged and twisted scars on his front with a finger and he lets her, but she doesn’t ask and falls asleep later curled next to him with her fingers over the worst of it.

 (Like she’s trying to protect it)

 James stares at the scars on his hands where he’d crushed the gauntlet and cut open the hand, and the distinct line across his chest and Tony doesn’t stop him when he goes for a run by himself.

 He stares down at Maria, and wonders how it even got to this point.

~~

 James joins him on the roof later.

 Maria’s asleep beside him, tired out from when they stayed up and he pointed out the constellations.

 She loved the stars, even if his own love changed after the wormhole.

 “I’m sorry.” James says, keeping his voice low, careful not to wake Maria.

 “I know.” Tony says, smoothing a hand over Maria’s hair. “We can’t change the past. But I don’t want to hold onto it.”

 Maria stirs at their voices, and Tony starts humming softly, an old Italian lullaby that he didn’t remember the words of even if he remembered the tune.

 “I don’t either.” James says finally, Maria sprawled across both their laps fast asleep, and something in the air between them changes. Tension giving way into something soft and easy.

~~  
 And then Maria speaks.

 She’s more comfortable with touch now, will reach up silently if she wants to be picked up and she’s used to Tony carrying her to bed if she falls asleep in the front room.

 He’s balancing her, making sure the War Machine plushie Tony gave her is safely tucked in her arms when she shifts and opens her eyes slightly.

 “Just taking you upstairs.” Tony says, climbing the steps to the vacation home they’re in until the media shitstorm blows over. The free time he’s gotten has helped him make leaps and bounds in fixing up the next proposals for the Accords, and the lawyers, headed by one dedicated Matt Murdock, are already pushing them through in his absence.

 “ _Ti voglio bene_ ,” she says sleepily, before cuddling the plush closer and falling back asleep.

  _I love you_.

 Tony stands there, one leg stupidly raised in the air and nearly loses hold of her. A glance down at where James was on the couch staring up at him with wide eyes confirms he didn’t hallucinate that.

 Putting his foot down finally he quickly tucks her into bed and makes sure to shut the door when he leaves to go back downstairs.

 “Did that just…”

 “Yep.”

 “Wow.”

 “We’re going to be okay.” James says suddenly after a long moment of them processing the words. He’s staring up at Maria’s closed bedroom door.

 Tony stares at him in confusion. “What?”

 “She’s going to be okay.” he said, something calm and assured in his voice as he looks at Tony. “ _We’re_ going to be okay. All of us.”

 “Yeah,” Tony says. He slowly steps forward, sitting down carefully beside James on the couch. “We are.”

 His answering smile is a beautiful thing.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Take a deep breath, stretch your neck, wriggle your fingers, drink some water. Enjoy the fluff I bring to you on New Years Eve, I'm in a good mood tonight.  
> You can find me [@the-flightoficarus](https://the-flightoficarus.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr as well if that's more your thing, but I'd love to hear what you think about it.  
> This is for my lovely jellybean, who was incredibly patient as this monster grew and grew. Ily for giving the prompt in the first place, even with all the screaming I did in the creation of this. <3  
> Small cameo by Alice Blackwood, part of Aliska's Winters End [Winters End](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307321/chapters/25303275) which is a super awesome fic and you all should read it right now.  
> Am I done talking? Yeahhhhhh I think so. DRINK WATER but otherwise go on with your lives.


End file.
